UNICEF is raising alarm about the toll placed on the millions of children after deadly floods in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Myanmar, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported from New York. According to APP, UNICEF said worst affected is Pakistan, where an estimated 2.15 million people - mainly women and children - have been hit by floods that followed four days of heavy rain in the wake of Cyclone Yemyin late last month. Some 200 people have been killed and another 200 are missing. UNICEF has issued an appeal for $5 million to deal with immediate needs. At least 300,000 children under the age of five are suffering, according to UNICEF, with many areas still cut off by flood waters, and many water distribution systems damaged or destroyed, leading to poor hygiene, unsanitary conditions and outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The regions hit hardest by the floods in Pakistan are Balochistan and Sindh. These are also among Pakistan s most disadvantaged, leaving the children and women there especially vulnerable. In Pakistan we have been able to distribute essential life-saving materials in part because of supplies that were pre-positioned following the earthquake in October 2005 , APP said quoting from a UNICEF report.
